It’s been nearly three weeks since the last trip to visit HIPPOKAMPOS (gasp!) and with Fall already here it was a good excuse to make another visit and prepare for decommissioning. My brother Mike made a comment, half-jokingly but with a hint of interest, about coming along. Janet was staying in Kentucky for this trip since the goal was mostly to deal with the nuts-and-bolts of hauling, winterizing, and storing the boat for the winter… Read More
Tracks: Great Bay Marine to Sara Long Bridge
Date: October 12, 2015
Time: Departed Great Bay Marine at 14:15
Engine Hours: 2.7 (2273.5 – 2276.2)
Distance: 5.23 miles
Weather: Fair and sunny with SE winds 4-6 mph.
Having Mike on board meant an opportunity to make another short cruise and, with an experienced hand rather than of going solo, take a trip down river and back to get the monkey off my back (the monkey being passing under draw bridges while wrestling with the mighty currents of the Piscataqua River).
Fortunately we had a perfect day of weather. Sunny with temps around 70° and winds light. Only the fast moving current remained a challenge, along with getting in and out of the slip of course. For that latter matter, fortunately we had some neighbors on a lobster boat tied in front of us, making the best of a long Columbus Day weekend, that assisted with lines. Oh, and they also assisted with provisions by offering us some lobsters by we had no way to prepare the beasts.
We checked the tide tables and our only window would mean doing both legs down and back on an ebb tide.Slack tide would be at 1:25 pm so that seemed like a good time to head out and negotiate the General Sullivan Bridge which would take us out of Great Bay and into the Piscataqua. We made quick progress riding out on the ebb tide but knew it was going to be reversed later that day since the ebb would peak at 3.1 knots at 3:58 pm.
Once we were at the Sara Mildred Long Bridge it was just a matter of waiting for the next opening, scheduled every half hour on the quarter hour. The next bridge past the Long Bridge is the I-95 fixed bridge with a clearance of 134 feet. No problem there since HIPPOKAMPOS only needs 25 feet.
The lift bridge, on the other hand, is 10 feet closed and 135 feet open so we waited in the churning current trying to hold our place and not get swept under. Once the bridge was up an up-bound cruiser gave a courtesy hail that he’d stand by to allow the those to pass with the current first. At last we were through but now it was to late to take the Memorial Bridge. We idled in place and did a few circles to amuse the landlubbers until the next opening of the Sara Long Bridge.
Our return to Great Bay was as expected. Pushing against the ebb tide had our cruising speed down to average around 3.5 knots, sometimes dropping to 2.5 as the river banks squeezed in and funneled the river towards us. We arrived back at the slip a little before sunset and got assistance from the lobster boat crew with securing our lines.
Later that evening we took a drive into Portsmouth to see from land what we looked like out on the water. We also tried to have dinner at The Dolphin Striker, a restaurant that Barry had recommended back in October, but couldn’t fight the crowds to make it happen. It didn’t happen again but this time because it was closed so we had dinner at The River House overlooking our previous cruising ground.
